Centar za mir - Mostar

The Center for Peace and Multiethnic Cooperation Mostar Managing Board made a decision on establishing the Peace Award, which will be presented every year marking the anniversary of the Old Bridge reconstruction.

This year the Center for Peace and Multiethnic Cooperation Mostar Peace Award was presented to Mr. Vaclav Havel, the ex-president of Czech Republic, who visited Mostar in December 1995 and crossed the suspension bridge together with the representatives of the divided city during that period, Mr. Safet Oručević and Mr. Mijo Brajković, sending the messages of peace to the Mostarians and the whole world.

In his letter to the director of the Center for Peace and Multiethnic Cooperation Mostar, Mr. Safet Oručević, Mr. Vaclav Havel notes:

“I am very happy and deeply touched by the Peace Award “Mostar 2004” presented to me on the occasion of the opening of the reconstructed Old Bridge. I have vivid memories of my visit to Mostar, shortly after the Dayton Agreement and my dramatic flight. Because of that specific experience I believe that the establishing the Center for Peace and Multiethnic Cooperation right here is exceptionally significant in forming the civil society in the area where until recently, the ethnic hatred dominated. I firmly believe that the reconstruction of the Old Bridge will be a symbol of the reconstruction of the bridges between certain cultures and nations, in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in the whole world.

The Peace Award “Mostar 2004” was created by the Austrian and Bosnian artists, Mr. W.M. PÜHRINGER and Mr. RIFAT KURTAGIĆ. This artistic creation represents the miniature of the installation “PEACE CONNECTION” which is the integral part of the “Old Bridge – Monument of Peace” exhibition.

The statue made of brass and precious metals, with the base of the original stone from the arch of Old Bridge, symbolizes Old Bridge and its peace mission of reconciliation and tolerance.